Getting a qualification recognised in Spain: two procedures, two ministries, and half of all applicants pick the wrong one

Recognition of a foreign qualification is called homologación in Spain, and that single word covers two procedures that have nothing to do with each other. They run at different ministries, with different forms, different fees and different deadlines. Apply to the wrong one and you lose months. Below: which procedure is yours, what it costs, how long it takes, and the slip that gets your child into school while the application is still running.

First this: which of the two is yours

The dividing line is simple and it sits at the level of your qualification.

School qualifications, meaning everything up to and including secondary education and vocational training, go to the Ministry of Education. Think A-levels, an Abitur, a Dutch havo or vwo diploma, a vocational certificate.

University degrees go to the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. That has its own scheme, with its own decree from 2022.

Two separate counters, two separate forms, two separate payments. There is no shared entry point and one file does not get passed to the other.

One more point that works in our favour here: Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country handle this themselves. The Comunitat Valenciana is not among them, so for anyone living here it runs through the national ministries.

Homologación or equivalencia: the difference that costs money

On the university side there are two possible outcomes, and people often ask for the wrong one.

Homologación makes your foreign degree equal to a specific Spanish degree that gives access to a regulated profession. That is what you need to work here as a doctor, nurse, architect, teacher or lawyer.

Equivalencia declares your degree equivalent to a level and a field, without that professional access. Enough for most jobs in business and for further study, not enough for a regulated profession.

The difference costs money, literally: each procedure carries its own fee. Apply for both on the same qualification and you pay twice. So work out what you need first, then apply.

Rule of thumb: if you want to work in a profession that required you to be on a register at home, you almost certainly need homologación. Every other case: start with equivalencia.

School qualifications: what it costs and how long it takes

The non-university side is the cheaper and faster of the two.

You pay with form 790, code 079. Watch that number: code 107 is the university fee and does not belong here.

The amounts as we found them:

ESO, the Spanish equivalent of lower secondary: exempt, you pay nothing.
First year of Bachillerato: about 24.88 euros.
The Bachiller qualification: about 49.76 euros.
Técnico and Técnico Superior from vocational training: the same 49.76 euros.

The fee itself has existed since 2003, under article 28 of Law 53/2002, amended by Law 15/2014. Paying is also a separate step: it does not release you from filing the application form itself, and bank charges are yours and do not come off the amount.

The deadline: according to the guidance, three months from the point your file is complete. Hear nothing and that counts as a refusal, not an approval.

Those amounts do not come from the official fee table, which we could not open. See the section on what we do not know, and check the amount before you pay.

The slip that means you do not have to wait

This is the most useful thing in this article and it is set out clearly almost nowhere.

The online application for a school qualification generates a volante de inscripción condicional, a provisional proof of application. With it you can enrol your child straight away at a school or college while the recognition is still running.

In practice that means: move in October and you do not have to wait until February before your child can go to school. You apply, you print the volante, you go to the school.

And now the warning, because it belongs with it. The volante guarantees nothing. If the recognition is eventually refused, the provisional enrolment lapses. Your child will have spent half a year at that school with no valid basis for it.

That is not a reason to skip it. It is a reason to file a complete application first time, and not to gamble on a qualification you know is shaky.

University degrees: six months, and what happens after

The university side runs under Royal Decree 889/2022, which mostly governs deadlines.

The decision deadline is six months, counted from the moment your application enters the electronic register. Hear nothing within those six months and it counts as a refusal by silence. That is not a formality: it means you have to appeal, not that you can sit and wait.

The fee is form 790, code 107, at 166.50 euros in 2026. That figure is adjusted yearly. You do not get it back, unless the error is the administration’s.

If something is missing you get ten working days to supply it. That is short, and it is why a file that is complete first time saves so much.

And the trap that catches people years later: if you get a favourable decision conditional on additional requirements, such as a test or extra subjects, you have four years to meet them. Miss that and the decision loses its effect and you cannot apply for homologación again on the same qualification. That is a door closing behind you.

The paperwork: apostille and sworn translation

Whichever procedure you are in, your qualification has to be recognisable as genuine in Spain. That takes two steps.

The apostille. This is the certificate under the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 by which one country confirms a document from another is genuine. The photo above shows what a Dutch one looks like: the standard form with its ten numbered fields, issued in The Hague, with the red wax seal of the district court.

You get the apostille in the country that issued the qualification, not in Spain. In the Netherlands it runs through the court, in Belgium through the federal foreign affairs service, in Germany and France through their own designated bodies, and in the UK through the Legalisation Office.

The sworn translation. Non-Spanish documents have to be translated by a translator sworn for the purpose. A good translation from an ordinary agency does not count.

Arrange this before you file. This is exactly the kind of item you otherwise get ten working days for, and apostilles rarely arrive from abroad inside ten working days.

How long it really takes

The legal deadline and reality diverge, and that is no secret.

On paper: three months for a school qualification, six for a university degree. In practice the firms that handle these files report it takes considerably longer than the theoretical deadline.

What to do about that, practically:

Start before you move. Apostille and translation can be arranged from home, and it is easier there.
Use the volante if this is about school, so the wait does not land on you.
Do not plan around the deadline. Do not resign a job or sign a contract assuming recognition will be through in six months.
But do watch the six months. Because silence is a refusal, you have to chase it yourself.

Where you file

Both procedures run primarily online, through the electronic register of the relevant ministry. That is also where the volante comes from.

If it does not go online, in this province the paperwork can be handed in at the Subdelegación del Gobierno in Alicante, the building in the photo at the top of this article, on Plaza de la Muntanyeta. That is central government’s office in the province and the usual address for files heading to the national ministries.

What you need either way: a means of identification. Without an NIE you will not get far, and that is applied for separately. How that works is in our piece on applying for an NIE.

And for anyone doing this because the whole family is moving: registering at the town hall comes first, because everything else hangs off it. See empadronamiento.

What we do not know for certain

Honest about the edges, because this is regulation that moves.

The exact amounts of the 079 fee. The figures above come from a form carrying the year 2026 and from an information sheet by a delegación del Gobierno. We could not open the official fee table. Check the amount on the ministry’s site before you pay, because a wrongly paid fee is not refunded.

The real processing time. That it takes longer than the legal deadline is widely reported, but we found no reliable average.

The EU route for regulated professions. For a number of professions there is a separate recognition route within the European Union alongside homologación. We have not verified it and therefore do not describe it. Ask the Spanish professional body for your field.

Exactly what counts as additional requirements. That differs by file and by field.

Frequently asked questions

What is homologación? The recognition of a foreign qualification in Spain. The word covers two separate procedures: one for school qualifications and one for university degrees.

Where do I file? School qualifications with the Ministry of Education, university degrees with the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

What is the difference between homologación and equivalencia? Homologación gives access to a regulated profession, equivalencia only declares level and field equivalent.

What does it cost? School qualifications via form 790 code 079: ESO exempt, Bachiller about 49.76 euros. University degrees via code 107: 166.50 euros in 2026.

How long does it take? On paper three months for school and six for university. In practice longer.

What if I hear nothing? Silence counts as a refusal, not an approval.

Can my child attend school while we wait? Yes, with the volante de inscripción condicional from the online application. If recognition is refused, that enrolment lapses.

Do I need an apostille? Yes, and you get it in the country that issued the qualification, not in Spain.

Can I translate it myself? No, it has to be a sworn translation.

What if I am given additional requirements? You have four years to meet them. After that the decision lapses and you cannot reapply on the same qualification.

About the authorLeonie

Leonie lives on the Costa Blanca. She writes about daily life on the coast: the markets, the walks and everything you only discover once you actually live here.